Super Precise Grenade Drop Destroys Russian Tank: Throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have resorted to using commercial drones as weapons – and one video shared online in recent days shows just how effective this tactic can be.
What We Know
In the video, which may have been recorded from a commercial drone designed to capture high-quality video footage from the air, a Russian T-80BV tank can be seen with its top hatch open and parked in a field.
Mere moments into the video, a grenade can be seen falling from the air – in this instance, from the drone that is recording the video – and landing perfectly inside of the hatch.
As soon as the grenade enters the hatch and lands inside of the tank, it immediately explodes and sets fire to the vehicle.
The drone then quickly rises into the air, filming along the way, as flames completely engulf the Russian tank.
The clip was shared on Telegram and later re-uploaded to Twitter by popular war-tracking account Ukraine Weapons Tracker on February 17. The video racked up hundreds of thousands of views within hours of it being uploaded.
Ukraine Weapons Tracker’s post also indicated that the incident occurred somewhere in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
“#Ukraine: In #Zaporizhzhia Oblast, an abandoned Russian T-80BV tank was destroyed by a very precise drone-dropped munition, deposited straight into the Commander’s hatch,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.
Also on February 17, Ukraine Weapons Tracker uploaded aerial images that appear to show the first-ever confirmed destruction of a Russian 2B26 multiple rocket launcher by Ukrainian troops. According to the war-tracking account, the rocket launcher destroyed in Zaporizhzhia Oblast was a rare variant, making the strike particularly notable.
“The first confirmed destruction of a Russian 2B26 Grad 122mm MRL by Ukrainian forces- this is an uncommon variant, the main difference to the usual Grad being a KaMAZ-5350 chassis,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.
The post also revealed that the strike was successfully completed using an Excalibur rocket, one of the most powerful extended-range guided artillery shells used by the Ukrainian military.
The images shared in the post show the MLRS parked in a field before it was struck by Ukrainian artillery. In the second image, the remains of the missile launcher are seen scattered across the ground, with large scorch marks surrounding the position. The snow also appears to have melted, likely as a result of the explosion – although it was unclear how far apart the photographs were taken.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
